We’re betting a fair amount of money on the fact that you’ve never heard of the car we’re about to tell you about, but believe us when we say you’ll want to pay attention to the feats that the Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept has achieved.

Proving the incredible performance potential is has, the 03 Cyan Concept was piloted around Germany’s feared and famed Nürburgring Nordschleife in a shockingly impressive 7 minutes 20.143 seconds.

That, for reference, makes it officially the fastest four-door car with it three seconds ahead of the Jaguar XE Project 8’s original time (although a recent re-run saw it run a 7:18) and a truly astonishing 25 seconds ahead of the front-wheel drive lap record holder, the Renault Megane Trophy-R. Impressive stuff, but what on Earth actually is this thing?

Lynk & Co – a division of the Chinese car-making giant Geely that also owns Volvo and Polestar, as you’ll quickly see become a relevant piece of the puzzle – has been operating in China since 2016 with it selling models positioned between Geely and Volvo-branded cars. The regular 03 was the brand’s first non-SUV model, although underneath, it’s built on the same basic architecture as Volvo’s XC40.

Bringing with it Volvo’s storied touring car pedigree, Lynk & Co are set to enter a TCR-spec one of these in the 2019 World Touring Car Cup which will be built by Cyan Racing – what was previously known as Polestar Racing, Volvo’s factory race team.

So where does the 03 Cyan Concept fit in with all of this? Well, essentially, it’s a road-going version of the TCR car that’s intended to become a real flagship performance model in the company’s lineup, especially when it begins to expand outside of its home market, which is something that’s supposedly in the works for the brand.

Given all of the performance know-how of Polestar’s people, and the added help of a shedload of power, the 03 Cyan Concept certainly has the potential to become an incredibly revered performer, especially given the surprise lap records it has just set around the ‘Ring.

And we’re not overhyping just how much power this thing has when we say that it’s packing a shedload. Keeping in mind that this thing is front-wheel drive only, it’s 2.0-litre turbo mill makes an astonishing 394kW (528bhp) at a screaming 7800rpm and 504Nm from 4500-7000rpm, with it revving out to 8000rpm at the top. In short, if it makes it to production, it would be the most powerful four-cylinder engine ever fitted to a production car, ahead of the 310kW Mercedes-AMG A45 and CLA45.

According to its maker, it has an undisclosed type of six-speed paddle-shift gearbox – we’d suspect a dual-clutch, given the regular 03 comes with a 7-speed DCT – that helps it sprint from 0-100km/h in just 4.4 seconds, 0-200km/h in an even 10.0, and will charge on to a top speed of 310km/h.

Keeping it planted on the road – which, given that much power is all going to the front wheels, would be no easy task – is a set of 285/30R20 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, Öhlins adjustable dampers, and 378mm front and 290mm rear brakes with six and two-piston calipers respectively.

Not done with development of this concept just yet, Lynk & Co is set to take the 03 Cyan Concept to the far north of Sweden to ensure that it works in all conditions and seasons, so clearly, two lap records are not enough for the Chinese company to be satisfied with its new, absolutely insane creation.

We’ll be incredibly interested to see just what Lynk & Co do with the 03 Cyan Concept, and we certainly hope to see one make it to production. In the meantime, however, we’ll just have to enjoy watching this preview of it absolutely tearing up the Nürburgring, which you can see below.

Patrick Jackson
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